London calling

[sabotabby]

Everyone okay? (I'm relieved to see all of the Londoners on my friends list posting this morning.)

Analysis later, when more facts come in, but my first impressions are as follows:

• I'm amazed at how calmly the British public seems to be taking this. Let's hope that will extend to the British government.
• Then again, it's not unexpected, is it?
• To me, this illustrates the flaw in terrorism as a strategy. People who have a say in a country's foreign affairs do not take mass transit to work, and most Londoners were against the war. Of course, the myth of electoral politics is that ordinary citizens do have a say in, and consequently, a responsibility for, their government's policies, but they don't, hence the utter cruelty and senselessness of this sort of attack.

I suppose the best we can hope for is a reaction akin to Spain's after the Madrid bombing. In the meantime, thoughts and condolences.

Comments

[uberbitsch.livejournal.com]

Well. I missed being blown up because I was lazy and decided I didn't need to get in THAT early.

As for taking it calmly... I'm kind of unnerved by it all but they are terrorists, ergo they want to instill terror in me and I REFUSE to comply with their wishes.

Plus London survived the Blitz.

[sabotabby]

I'm glad you're lazy, in that case. wirawarmi also seems to be saved by sleeping in.

I am muchly relieved.

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much the reaction I'd expect. Someone else on my friends list posted a quote from a guy who was in a pub when an IRA bomb went off across the street. It's something that the British (sadly or not) are used to so they know how to take it with a modicum of "life goes on" (though it was never on this scale before).

[sabotabby]

I like the tea icon. Maybe we need more tea in North America so we can be that calm too.

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

I think that would take a sedative.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

I think there really is something in the old "stiff upper lip" stereotype, plus the experience of the Blitz and the IRA.

My suspicion is that the predominant response amongst the British public will neither be to want to bomb anything, nor to pull out of Iraq. As you say, calmer (plus much less dead than on 9/11), so less bombing. I don't think Blair would be able to sell another war, even if he wanted to. But there's likely to be a much stronger feeling in Britain than in Spain that pulling out of Iraq would be "giving in to terrorism". The Spanish never wanted their troops in Iraq in the first place. The Brits were divided, and even though most came to see the war as a mistake, most still, I think, take the view that now we're in we should "stay the course", however stupid a course that is.

My main worries are civil liberties and what happens to the Muslim community. (And anyone that the boneheads decide looks Muslim.)

[mcsokrates.livejournal.com]

I don't know about less bombing. less emotional need for immediate cathartic revenge perhaps (unlike the american reaction to 9-11) but Britain has proved itself to be quite capable of calmly and dispassionately killing a lot of people.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Yes, totally. The Brits are just as willing to bomb people as the Americans, but the sort of deceptions and hypocricies used to get them to support it are different. I don't think this event will lead to an urge to bomb something.

[sabotabby]

I hope not. They're running out of countries in the Middle East.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

In a way, this is not only a repeat of previous terrorism on Brit soil, but also an aftershock to 11 September, in a way... Just like one doesn't freak out as much for an earthquake's aftershock as they did for the first, unexpected event.

I mean, it's surprising it didn't happen earlier.

Warfare is a potent form of political discourse, whether under the military or terrorist fashion.

A couple more events like this and the British public could suddenly feel much less committed to "stay the course". For now it's just a wake-up call.

[teapolitik.livejournal.com]

Perhaps this was intended not as a way of killing some random 'innocent' people (anywhere would be a good place to set off a bomb for that), but as a way to bring London (and it has extended to other parts of UK) to a halt.

[sabotabby]

I doubt it -- there are much more humane ways to bring a city to a halt, like busting up power lines, crashing computers, etc. Nor was this a blow against Western imperialism -- they could have conveniently dealt it a stunning blow by hitting Gleneagles.

I just...don't know, really.